Prayer in Public Schools

This is the first thorough examination to bring together the experiences of parents and children involved in contesting public school sanctioned prayer and Bible reading. Personal interviews were conducted with those involved in seven prominent cases beginning with the McCollum case decided by the Supreme Court in 1948 and concluding with the ongoing struggle of Rachel Bauchman and Kevin Herdahl to protest official school activities in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Ecru, Mississippi.

Each story challenges communities that impose the mores and cultural patterns of religion on their public schools. The result, in most instances, has been angry protests as well as threats against parents and children, and/or property damage.

Students learn about the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and discover how just 16 words in the U.S. Constitution inaugurated a debate that continues to this day. The author objectively follows the debate in relation to prayer in public schools, government support for religious schools, the right to speak and raise money for religious causes, when religion conflicts with the law, and where this issue stands today.